Poll vault: 20 politicians who have shifted loyalties this election season

(Clockwise from left): Jaya Prada, Satpal Maharaj, Jaswant Singh and Mohan Rawale. Read about them and other political leaders, who have made news for switching parties

2/21

Rahul Narvekar (Shiv Sena to NCP): Former spokesperson for both Shiv Sena and Yuva Sena, Narvekar jumped ship and joined the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Narvekar was a trusted lieutenant of both Uddhav and Aaditya Thackeray. He will now contest the Lok Sabha elections from Maval constituency. Narvekar is the son-in-law of senior NCP leader Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar

3/21

Karuna Shukla (BJP to Congress): Former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee's niece, Shukla ended her 32-year-long association with BJP to join Congress earlier this year. She slammed Narendra Modi saying his promise of serving the country is nothing but "plain dishonesty". Hitting out at Modi, Shukla said the BJP has declared such a person its prime ministerial candidate "who did not fulfill the duty of a husband or rajdharma when he was chief minister”

4/21

Mohan Rawale (Shiv Sena to NCP): The former five-time Sena MP also joined Sharad Pawar’s party recently. Late last year, Rawale was sacked by the Sena for dissidence. The expulsion was ordered shortly after Rawale addressed a press conference in which he launched a no-holds-barred attack on the party leadership and alleged that the Shiv Sena was becoming ‘a party of touts’

5/21

Abhijit Panse (Shiv Sena to MNS): The Shiv Sainiks were dealt with a big blow after, Panse, former head of Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Sena (BVS), Shiv Sena’s student wing, switched over to Raj Thackeray’s party. Panse, who was also instrumental in the launch of Aditya Thackeray-led Yuva Sena, will now contest against Sena candidate Rajan Vichare from Thane

6/21

Amar Singh (SP to RLD): He was sacked by the Samajwadi Party for indulging in anti-party activities, and has now joined the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). Singh will be contesting for the Fatehpur Sikri seat in UP

7/21

Jaya Prada (SP to RLD): Like Amar Singh, the actress-turned political was also sacked from the SP. She has followed Singh into the RLD, and will contest from Bijnor

8/21

Jaswant Singh (BJP to independent): He may not have shifted to another party, but his decision to stand as an independent candidate is a sure case of rebellion. The veteran BJP leader filed his nomination papers as an independent candidate from Barmer Lok Sabha seat in Rajasthan, after being denied a ticket

9/21

Gajanan Babar (Shiv Sena to MNS): Disappointed with the party’s decision to field former Congressman Shriranga Barne from Pune’s Maval constituency, sitting MP Babar resigned and made an extravagant claim that he was dumped because he didn't pay for the ticket. He has since joined the MNS

10/21

Vijayashanti (TRS to Congress): The actress-turned-politician, who was with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) earlier, has also joined the Congress. Vijayashanti was among the most vocal voices demanding a separate state of Telangana. The former cine star joined the Congress just days after the Parliament passed the bill for creation of Telangana state

11/21

Satpal Maharaj (Congress to BJP): A senior Congress leader, Maharaj joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), stating that he wanted to strengthen the country, which now has a leader in Narendra Modi. The Paudhi Garhwal MP commented, "I want India to grow and outsmart China in development and this is only possible when an able leader like Narendra Modi becomes the prime minister.”

12/21

Sunil Shastri (BJP to Congress to BJP): The son of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, who was with the Congress, rejoined the BJP in December last year. Shastri quit the BJP and joined the Congress in 2009 after the UPA won the Lok Sabha elections that year

13/21

Bhausaheb Wakchaure (Shiv Sena to Congress: In yet another pre-election jolt to the Sena, its influential MP from Shirdi, Wakchaure, joined the Congress in February 2014. "I am joining Congress to fulfill the commitments I had made to people on development of this constituency," Wakchaure said while switching over

14/21

Satyaveer Tyagi (RLD to BJP): A prominent Rashtriya Lok Dal (RJD) leader, Tyagi has shifted loyalties to the BJP. Tyagi had earlier contested the elections from Uttar Pradesh, but unsuccessfully

15/21

Somen Mitra (Congress to TMC to Congress): The veteran politician, who had quit the Congress in 2008 and joined Trinamool Congress (TMC), rejoined the Congress in January this year. While quitting TMC, Mitra lashed out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over a host of issues including the chit fund scam and rising crimes against women

16/21

NK Singh (JD(U) to BJP): A close aid of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Singh quit the party and joined the BJP, citing his unhappiness over the decision-making process in the JD(U)

17/21

Chhedi Paswan (JD(U) to BJP): In another blow for Nitish Kumar, Paswan, who was earlier a minister in the Nitish government, also joined BJP. Paswan is a four-time, and was elected to Lok Sabha twice, in 1989 and 1991, from the Sasaram seat in Bihar

18/21

Kameshwar Baitha (JMM to TMC): The former Maoist leader, who made his way to Parliament in 2009 after winning the Palamu seat, Baitha quit the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and joined hands with Trinamool Congress (TMC) recently. Baitha quit after JMM conceded the Palamu seat to Congress under a seat-sharing formula

19/21

CP Yogeshwar (Congress to BJP to SP to Congress): The actor-politician’s career has come a full circle. He started off with the Congress before shifting to BJP in 2008. Then, on the eve of the 2013 Assembly elections, he joined the Samajwadi Party (SP). He is now back in the Congress fold. Yogeshwar was the lone SP MLA from Karnataka

20/21

Rao Inderjeet Singh (Congress to BJP): The former Congress MP, who had demanded a probe into land deals of Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra, joined BJP in February this year. An MP from Gurgaon, Rao Inderjeet's great-grandfather Rao Tula Ram was one of the noted freedom fighters during the 1857 revolt, while his father Rao Birender Singh was chief minister of Haryana

21/21

Purnamasi Ram (JD(U) to Congress): He was expelled from JD(U), after which he joined the Congress. After the switch over, Ram blasted Nitish Kumar, terming the Bihar CM’s functioning as ‘Hitler-style’